A plain-language Florida guide for Palm Beach County

PIP vs bodily injury liability in Florida: who each coverage pays after a crash

Reviewed by Matt Williams, Licensed Insurance AgentLast reviewed October 3, 2026

The short version

Before you set auto limits, sorting out PIP vs bodily injury liability in Florida shows you whose medical bills each one pays. PIP pays yours and your household's first, at 80 percent of reasonable bills up to $10,000. Bodily injury liability pays people you hurt, and the state does not require it to register a car.

PIP pays your own medical bills first, up to its limit.
Bodily injury liability pays the people your driving injures.
One call starts quotes on both coverages from several companies.

Call (561) 973-9998 and a licensed Florida agent runs the comparison with you.

Call (561) 973-9998 Rather type it out? Use the form

Start Your Comparison

List what needs coverage. A licensed Florida agent replies by phone or email with what several companies offer.

Several companies, one phone call
Car, house and shop questions in one conversation
A licensed Florida agent picks up

ZIP code

Coverage to quote

Full name

Phone number

Email (optional)

Notes for the agent (optional)

Add your current declarations page

Current declarations page (optional)Insured already? Upload it so Matt Williams and his team can price your current limits with several companies.PDF, JPG or PNG files up to 10 MB.

Your documents are used only to prepare your quote. Before sending, see the agent disclosure, the Privacy Policy and the Website Terms. A phone call works just as well.

Nothing to buy and no fee. Only a licensed agent and his team see this request; it is never sold as a lead.

Aerial view of the Boca Raton Resort's Mediterranean Revival buildings and pink tower, Boca Raton, Florida — The Boca Raton Resort, seen from the air

Matt Williams, a licensed Florida insurance agent, wrote this page for BocaRatonInsuranceFL.com to settle one question that decides who collects after a crash: which part of your auto policy pays you, and which part pays the other person.

The two names sound alike, yet they point in opposite directions. Once you can tell them apart, picking limits stops being a guess and the quote in front of you starts to make sense.

PIP pays you first, from your own policy

Personal injury protection, or PIP, is written into Florida law at s. 627.736, and its job is plain: your own policy pays your own medical bills first, up to its limit.

Who PIP pays

The statute lists the people a policy must provide PIP to, subject to its conditions: the named insured, relatives who live in the same household, people driving the insured car, passengers riding in it, and people the car strikes while they are not riding in a vehicle themselves. In plain terms, it looks after the people in and around your car, starting with you and your household.

How far PIP stretches

Section 627.736 also sets the amounts. PIP carries a limit of $10,000 in medical and disability benefits, and the medical portion covers 80 percent of each reasonable bill for care that is medically necessary. A separate $5,000 death benefit sits beside it. Whatever falls outside that share, or past the $10,000 limit, needs another source.

Palm Beach County roads in 2024

26,550crashes reported on county roads
16,564people hurt in those crashes
207people who did not survive one
489crashes that involved a motorcycle

Source: FLHSMV Traffic Crash Facts, 2024; figures checked 2026-10-03

Bodily injury liability pays the people you hurt, never you

Now flip the direction. Bodily injury liability is the part of a policy that answers when your driving injures someone else. The FLHSMV insurance requirements page puts it in one line: it pays for injury or death to others.

Here is the catch. For a car's registration, that same page asks for proof of PIP and property damage liability, at least $10,000 of each, and it names bodily injury liability only for vehicles registered as taxis. The property damage piece comes from s. 324.022: $10,000 for damage to other people's property in any one crash.

So a car can be legally registered without any bodily injury liability behind its driver. If you are that driver and you injure someone, bodily injury liability is the part of a policy built to answer their claim, and it is on yours only if you chose it.

The limits you pick now decide who covers the gap later

A limit is a decision you make once, on a calm day, that settles a question nobody wants to argue about after a crash. Palm Beach County recorded 26,550 crashes in 2024, with 16,564 injuries and 207 deaths, according to FLHSMV Traffic Crash Facts 2024.

Those counts cut both ways, so think in both directions:

If you are the one hurt, PIP pays first, within its share and its limit. If the driver who hit you carries no bodily injury liability, your own uninsured motorist coverage steps in for your injuries beyond PIP.
If you hurt someone, their claim against you is what bodily injury liability exists for, and the limit you chose is the most your policy pays on it.
If you are weighing limits, look at what you own and what you earn, then price a few limits side by side before you settle on one.

There is no single right number. Seeing each step up priced next to the protection it adds keeps the choice yours, and informed.

PIP vs Bodily Injury in Florida: Price Both Lines From One Call

Side by side, using the FLHSMV requirements and s. 627.736, the difference fits in a small table:

	PIP	Bodily injury liability
Who it pays	You, relatives in your household, your passengers and others the statute lists	People your driving injures
What it pays	80 percent of reasonable medical bills, up to $10,000	Injury or death to others, up to the limit you chose
Needed to register a car	Yes, at least $10,000	No, except for taxis
Who sets the amount	The statute writes the required amount	You choose the limit

The choice gets easier once you see bodily injury liability priced at a few limits beside your PIP, from more than one company. Some agencies write for a single company, so the only price they can show you is that company's. Because this agent is independent, representing many companies, one call opens the comparison and same day quotes arrive from several of them. A licensed agent answers, and you tell your story once instead of at every stop.

Your current policy stays as it is while you compare. To see how auto coverage is quoted here, read the Boca Raton auto insurance page, or call (561) 973-9998 and ask to see a few bodily injury limits next to your PIP.

Questions Drivers Ask About PIP and Bodily Injury Limits

Is bodily injury liability required to register a car in Florida?

Not for a standard registration. The FLHSMV page lists PIP and property damage liability and names bodily injury liability only for taxis. It also describes an SR-22 as a filing that certifies bodily injury and property damage liability for reinstatement, so a driver whose reinstatement calls for one needs both. The SR-22 and FR-44 guide covers that.

Does bodily injury liability pay my own medical bills?

No. It pays the people your driving injures. Your own bills go to PIP first, and if the driver who hit you has no bodily injury liability, your uninsured motorist coverage is the piece that pays for your injuries beyond PIP.

Will a PIP and bodily injury quote change the policy I have now?

No. A quote is information to compare, nothing more. Your current policy stays in force, nothing is canceled or replaced, and a quote does not bind coverage. You decide afterward, with the prices in front of you.

Still weighing it?

Go through your declarations page with a licensed Florida agent; there is no charge for the call.

(561) 973-9998 Or leave your details